Apparatus for manufacturing wood-alcohol



No. 61!,508. Patented Sept. 27, I898.

' M. F. QUINN.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WOOD ALCDHUL.

(Application filed Dec. 27, 18 97.) (No ModeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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Patented Sept. 27, I898.

m. n uumu. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WOOD ALCOHOL.

(Applicaltiun filed iDc. 27, 1897.)

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MARTIN F. QUINN, OF STRAIGHT, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WOOD-ALCOHOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 611,508, datedSeptember 27, 1898. Application filed December 2'7, 1897. Serial No.663,648. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARTIN F. QUINN, of Straight, in the county of Elkand State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement inApparatus for the Mannfacture of VVood-Alcohol and Acetate of Lime, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for the distillation of wood forthe manufacture of alcohol and acetate of lime; and it has for its mainobject a novel arrangement of the retort inits housing, wherebyprovision is made for the expansion and contraction of the retortwithout danger and unnecessary wear to the surrounding brickwork.

A further object is to provide means where by large quantities of woodmay be treated at one time, thereby considerably reducing the cost ofmanufacture.

WVith this end in View my invention consists in placing the retort in ahousing which has a pier midway of its length and on which the middle ofthe retort rests and two or more other piers on each side of thefirst-named pier and on which the retort loosely rests at its ends,whereby the retort will contract toward each end from the middle, thedischargepipes leading the products of distillation from the retort tothe condenser being passed through openings in the side of the housingof larger diameter than the said pipes, whereby the side walls of thehousing, as well as the ends and top, have no connection with the retortand the housing is not injured by the expansion and contraction of theretort.

I will first describe the construction and arrangement of the parts, andthen particularly point out the novel features in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, and in which similar characters of referenceindicate corresponding parts in all the Views. Figure 1 is a sideelevation of the housing for the retort, the discharge-pipes leading tothe condenser, and the condenser. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section ofthe housing and the retort. Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3 3, Fig.2. Fig. 4 is a section online 4 4, Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a detail viewshowing a portion of the brickwork at the side of the housing and thedischarge-pipe protruding from designed to loosely rest.

I the elongated opening therein, the protectingplate being broken away.

The apparatus comprises a retort A, of suitable l sheet metal, such asboiler-irompreferably from three-eighths to one-half an inch inthickness. The retort A has doors'a at each end, which have suitablelocking and sealing latchesa. The retort is surrounded bya housing B,consisting of masonry. Rising from the lower portion of the housing B isa central pier C, towhich the bottom of the retort at its middle portionis rigidly attached, and between the pier C and the end walls of thehousing are intermediate piers O, which are at a distance from the saidend walls and on which the ends of the retort are Each intermediate pierO is provided at its top with a metal plate a, between which and thebottom of the retort rollers c are placed. I have here shown but two ofthese intermediate piers; but it is to be understood that in practice agreater number is provided, according to the length of the retort, andthey should be placed about eight feet apart. The'housing at its endswill be provided with swinging doors c ,which will be in alinement withthe doors a of the retort.

Below the retort and between each pair of piers is a grate-bar c andbelow these gratebars are the ash-pits 0 The usual doors are providedfor access to the furnace and ashpit. One side wall of the housingpreferably that side which is opposite the furnace and ash-pit doors, orwhat might be properly called the rear side of the housing, is formedwith horizontally-disposed elongated openings D, through which thedischarge-pipes E protrude, and the number of these openings of coursedepends upon the number of dis charge-pipes, of which latter Ipreferably provide one for each furnace. is larger than the diameter ofthe pipe which it receives, and the pipes lead from the side of theretort directly through the side of the housing and down into thecondenser F for a useful and advantageous purpose now to be explained. A

It will be seen that by my arrangement and construction of retort andhousing the retort will expand and contract only from the middle towardeach end, and as the retort Each opening D is connected with the housingonly where it rests on the piers the expansion and contraction does notstrain the brickwork, thereby enabling the latter to last for years. Itis well known in this art that if the alcoholic vapor and other productsof distillation pass for any length of time over a heated surface thealcohol will be deteriorated in quality and become milky or cloudy. Nowin order to convey the vapor as rapidly as possible from the retort andprevent this deterioration I dispose the discharge-pipes at intervalsalong the side of the retort and turn them directly down into thecondenser E, thereby shortening as much as practicable the passage ofthe vapor from the retort to the condenser. Heretofore it has been thecustom to pass the vapor either out of the end of the retort, whicharrangement is open to the above-noted objection, as some of it mustpass the full length of the retort, or out of the top of the retort,horizontally over the housing, and then down into the condenser, whichlatter arrangement is not only defective, for the reason that it musttravel over considerable heated surface, but for the reason that thevapor will sometimes condense in the discharge -pipe and eventually clogthe same with tar. Having found that best results were obtained by myarrangement of discharge-pipes, I made the openings in the side wall ofthe housing larger than the diameter of the pipes, so that the pipes,which are rigidly connected to the retort and move along with it when itexpands 1and contracts, would leave the side walls inact.

As shown in the drawings, the openings D are eccentric to the pipes E-,for the walls of the housing are of course built up around the retortwhen the latter is cool, and as my retort expands only from the middletoward the ends it is only necessary to space that side of the pipesadjacent the ends of the retort from the brickwork of the housing.However, I do not limit myself to this exact arrangement, as it isobvious that the pipes could be spaced from the housing on all sides.

A plate G, of asbestos or other similar noncombustible material,preferably fits over the branch pipes in order to prevent heat fromescaping through the openings D, which is an appreciable saving in thecost of fuel when the retort is made very long, as is possible with myconstruction, and where there are numerous discharge-pipes.

Extending along the bottom of the retort are tracks H, which also extendoutward through the door-openings a and c and which are designed tosupport the cars I, containing the Wood to be treated.

In operation a number of cars containing each about one cord of woodwill be coupled together and drawn into the retort and then both thedoors of the retort are closed and gases are taken from the wood nothingremains but charcoal. Power is then applied to the cars to draw them outof the retort, after which they are taken to a cooler and the charcoalcooled.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. An apparatus for the manufacture of wood-alcohol and acetate of lime,provided with a retort, a housing for the retort and spaced therefromupon all sides, a central pier rising from the bottom of said housing,and to which the bottom of the retort is rigidly secured, piers locatedbetween the central pier and the end walls of the housing and on whichthe retort loosely rests at its ends, one side wall of the housing beingformed with openings, and discharge-pipes leading from the side of theretort adjacent said side wall, through-the openings and directly downinto the condenser, each opening in the wall being larger than thediameter of the pipe it receives, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. An apparatus for the manufacture of wood-alcohol and acetate of lime,provided with a retort, a housing for the retort and spaced therefromupon all of its sides, a central pier and intermediate piers rising fromthe bottom of the housing, and arranged to support the retort so that itwill expand and contract from its middle toward each end, adischarge-pipe leading from the side of the retort, the adjacent sidewall of the housing being formed with an opening larger than thediameter of the said discharge-pipe and through which said pipe isinserted, and a plate of non-combustible material surrounding said pipeand of a size sufficient to cover the opening in the wall, as and forthe purpose set forth.

3. An apparatus for the manufacture of wood-alcohol and acetate of lime,provided with a housing, a retort in said housing and arranged to expandand contract only from its middle toward each end, and dischargepipesleading from the side of the retort, through the adjacent side wall ofthe housing and directly down into the condenser, the wall where eachpipe goes through it being spaced from said pipe on the side of thelatter nearest the adjacent end of the retort, as and for the purposeset forth.

MARTIN F. QUINN.

Witnesses:

E. O. ALDRICH, F. S. ODoNNEL.

